Redefine successful

I want to scrub the social meaning of the word and turn it into something different. Something radical. Truer. Something you-shaped.

I want success in life to be measured by how true you are, to you.

How well do you know the sound of your own heart whispering? How quickly do you heed its nudge? How honest are you with your misgivings? Do you act in faith, or wait for things to change on their own?

And in times when your mouth follows rules even as your insides scream different words, how long does it take you to muster the courage to speak truth, and accept the ruin and rebirth that it will bring? How open are you to surprise and opportunity?

I want to redefine success in life.

Success is not a path, it’s a squiggly water course. It meanders and moulds to the contours of your hopes and choices. Success is standing in your strengths and trying things that might be too hard. It’s making sure your needs are met to the best of your ability. Success looks and feels and smells and sounds like you and what you want. Success is doing the scary thing to get to what’s next, even if the scary thing is sitting still with nowhere to go for a while.

Water finds a way, eventually. It squeezes through the small interstices of hope to surge forward under pressure. It breaks rocks. It carves canyons.

If you let other people define success for you, it’s almost impossible to live up to it. You become indentured to their approval. No. Success must be you-shaped.

How do you achieve success? Follow your watercourse. How well do you know the sound of your heart roaring? How true are you, to you?

“Our greatest fear should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don’t really matter.”Francis Chan